1/3. Hemicrania continua in a black patient--the importance of the non-continuous stage.A 52-year-old black female for 19 years had severe intermittent unilateral headaches that demonstrated the "clustering" phenomenon. She was initially diagnosed as having episodic cluster headache. Response to lithium carbonate, ergotamine and courses of corticosteroids was, however, only partial. In December 1989 the headache pattern changed and she developed severe unilateral hemicranial headache that was continuous and non-remitting. This responded immediately and persistently to oral indomethacin. A diagnosis of hemicrania continua (HC) was made. The initial intermittent headache syndrome appears to have been the pre-continuous stage of hemicrania continua, and not episodic cluster headache as previously supposed. The pre-continuous phase of hemicrania continua may thus masquerade as episodic cluster headache by reason of its intermittency and "clustering". In this case, the intermittent stage was protracted. This stage may, conceivably, even be a permanent one. To our knowledge, this is the first report of hemicrania continua in a black African.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = black (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/3. cluster headache in black patients. A report of 7 cases.cluster headache is an uncommon form of headache syndrome. It is characterised by paroxysms of severe unilateral head pain typically involving the orbit. There are often associated autonomic changes on the affected side such as lacrimation, nasal congestion and Horner's syndrome. Apart from episodic cluster headache, various subtypes such as chronic cluster headache, cluster headache variant and chronic paroxysmal hemicrania have been identified. There have been few reports of the incidence and clinical features of cluster headache in blacks; 7 black patients with various types of cluster headache are described.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = black (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/3. Chronic paroxysmal hemicrania in a South African black. A case report.A 35-year-old black man with a 4-year continuous history of multiple paroxysms of unilateral temporal and ocular pain is reported. Multiple (that is, 15-20) attacks occurred in 24 h. There were no symptom-free periods. Mild exophthalmos, marked sweating, nasal congestion, and lacrimation were present on the affected side. There was no response to ergot preparations, steroids, or lithium but dramatic and sustained relief with indomethacin.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.83333333333333keywords = black (Clic here for more details about this article) |